Admit them young

Wednesday 27th January, 2021

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has woken up to the chronic delay in the process of producing medical graduates. By the time a doctor completes his or her internship he or she is about 30 years old, it has said, calling for action to ensure that students gain admission to medical faculties at the age of 18 and pass out when they turn 23. The GMOA’s call must have struck a responsive chord with all students who are dreaming of becoming doctors, and their parents. This problem affects undergraduates in other faculties as well, and action must be taken to enable all students who pass the GCE A/L examination in the first attempt to enrol for university education when they turn 17 or 18.

This is something eminent educationists have been calling for, through the pages of this newspaper, for the last so many years. We have editorially supported their campaign. But successive governments have ignored the issue. In fact, what is being urged is tantamount to reinventing the wheel. Dr. B. J. C. Perera, a senior paediatrician, who contributes valuable articles to this newspaper, informs us, in a letter published on the opposite page today, that he entered the Colombo Medical Faculty when he was about 18 years and graduated at the age of 23 in 1965. Something has gone radically wrong in the education sector over the years.

It looks as though the Sri Lankan universities had become adult education centres of sorts, given the average age of graduation. By the time Sri Lankan students complete their first degrees, those in the same age cohort, in other countries, have obtained postgraduate qualifications and secured employment. Failure on the part of successive governments to take remedial action has not only placed the Sri Lankan youth at a disadvantage but also contributed to youth unrest, which finds expression in brutal ragging and bloody clashes in universities.

It is jokingly said that Sri Lankans are over the hill by the time they tie the knot after completing university education and gain employment, and when they go the way of all flesh, their children still too young to understand death, much less cognitively process the implications of bereavement, play marbles near their coffins! This, one may argue, is not too cynical a view, given the average age of graduation in this country.

The GMOA deserves praise for having taken up the plight of medical students albeit belatedly. Other trade unions and professional associations also should come forward to campaign for having the factors that delay the process of producing graduates eliminated once and for all. This is something easily attainable if schooling is limited to 12 years as in the past and the GCE A/L examination advanced to April, experts have pointed out.

If the GCE A/L examination is held in April, and results are released within a couple of months, students who qualify for university education can enrol in August during the same year without wasting one whole year. Latest technology and enough evaluators are now available and the task of evaluating answer scripts and releasing results should not take more than a few weeks. If the Examination Department needs more resources, let them be made available.

There are other reasons for delays in the university system. The national universities are in the clutches of ultra-radical groups that further their political interests at the expense of undergraduates. Students must not be denied their right to engage in politics and protest against injustices, etc., but disruptive elements must not be allowed to have universities closed at will to advance their anarchical agendas. Everything possible must be done to keep seats of higher learning open and conduct examinations on schedule so that students can graduate and compete in the job market without wasting the best years of their lives.

There are two eminent scholars at the helm of the education sector––Education Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris and Secretary to the Education Ministry Prof. Kapila Perera; they are also former Vice Chancellors. It is hoped that they will prevail on the government to give serious thought to introducing education reforms to enable students to gain university admission at the age of 17 or 18.